The illness came after Black Sabbath announced plans for a reunion tour and new album in November, and so Iommi insisted he carry on working on the project with bandmates Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler.

"Me and Ozzy came to England to work at Tony's studio," Butler told Kerrang!. "He was going to the hospital one day, and we'd go into the studio the next depending on how the chemo was affecting him."

Asked if he really recorded the album in between his chemotherapy sessions, Iommi replied: "Yeah, well, I get bored doing nothing.